Chennai: Following media reports that India had refused visas to United Nations investigation committee formed to probe war crimes in Lanka, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Thursday said that she was ‘surprised’ at the development and urged the PM to ensure that the international panel is granted necessary visas to complete a fair and impartial enquiry into the human rights violations in Lanka.
“Given that India is geographically Sri Lanka’s closest neighbour and a number of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees are still residing in TN, India is definitely a place that any team probing human rights violations in Lanka should visit to conduct its inquiries,” she said.
Pointing out that refusal of visas to the UN committee probing the human rights violations would be a bitter disappointment to the people of TN who are determined to ensure that the SL regime is held accountable for its heinous acts against Tamils, Jayalalithaa said that facilitating a fair probe would go a long way in assuaging the strong sentiments prevailing amongst all sections of society and the polity in Tamil Nadu.
After the new government assumed office in May 2014, the state government had presented a memorandum on June 3 in which Jayalalithaa urged the Centre to sponsor a resolution in the UN condemning the genocide in Lanka and to hold to account all those responsible for the genocide and thereby render justice to the Tamils in Lanka. She had also stated that the resolution should also provide for holding a referendum among Tamils in Lanka and displaced Tamils across the world for formation of a separate Tamil Ealam.
“There is strong demand among all sections of society and shades of political opinion in TN about the need to hold the SL regime accountable for acts of genocide and war crimes in the closing stages of civil war and discrimination against Tamils,” she said.
